Editors’ Note: This article is from 2009. Sadly, 5 Pointz has since closed.
At an abandoned factory in Queens, the four stories are dripping in Technicolor graffiti, and curbed by people who’ve turned their bodies into a canvas of blue ink and silver piercings. This is 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center. Here in Long Island City, the guerilla artists—and the underrepresented communities they come from—have found a place to put their writing on the proverbial wall. Curator Jonathan Cohen divvies up garage doors, courtyard walls, ventilation ducts (basically anything that can be reached with his 50-foot orange bucket-lift) and reclaims the gallery by thinking outside it.
Exploring this 200,000 square-foot space, your eyes might flicker over apes evolving into mobsters, light bulbs brightened by the color of mischief, or propaganda-style messages proposing peace. While the artists do their best to make a lasting impression, it is the neighborhood that decides how long the 5Pointz graffiti may be displayed. Transition is a fact of life, and they’re all used to it.
This is the epitome of an off the beaten path journey in New York City, where asphalt crumbs lead past shuttered corrugated-metal garage doors, the 7-train rattles overhead, and there’s that uncertainty underneath the overpass that shrouds the street in loneliness. Then the inevitable lift when the sidewalk opens up into a courtyard, and the first thing you notice is how high people have climbed to write their names in “WildStyle”–a signature tangle of letters where one point ends where the other begins.
Dubbed an “institution of higher burnin’” that began in 1996, today 5Pointz is a living museum and walkable gallery whose name symbolizes the place where five boroughs converge. It’s always free, it’s always open, and it always has something new to say. Take your warm coffee and wander over on the weekends from noon to 7pm, when you’re likely to catch an artist in action.
For more spray painted adventures on oM, check out a Self-Guided Brooklyn Graffiti Tour.
How to get there: Take the E, V subways to 23 St/Ely Ave., or the 7 train to 45 Rd/Court House Sq. Use the Hopstop link below for specific directions from your starting point. (5 Pointz, 45-46 Davis St., Long Island City, 317.219.2685, 5ptz.com)
Sarah Knapp is a Brooklyn based entrepreneur whose love for the outdoors and community building led her to the October 2013 creation of OutdoorFest. She has a BA in History, is a Wilderness First Responder and a NY state hiking, camp and boating guide. Her proudest achievement to date is reading the Aeneid in Latin. 
Allison was one of our first top writers and Chief Editor but is no longer working with offMetro. Allison is a native New Yorker, who has lived in Rome, Tuscany, Melbourne, Toronto and Los Angeles. She frequently contributed travel pieces to Family Travel Forum, using her own children as guinea pigs as they travel the globe. She never missed a chance to sample local delicacies, as her love for travel goes hand-in-hand with her love for food and wine. 
Josh Laskin is a freelance travel writer and photographer based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When he is not at work or on the road, you can find him in the mountains snowboarding, climbing, hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking, and eating bagel bites.
Annie is a travel writer, environmentalist, and surfer based in Venice, CA. She heads up our West Coast team, keeps our grammatical errors in check, and makes sure our California writers always have a plan for their next adventure. Follow Annie’s travels @annelisemcb.
Carly Pifer is a freelance writer who has been known to follow whims inspired by romantic movie scenes or colorful street style shots to India, Japan, Tunisia and Argentina. After stints living in Seoul, Boston, Paris and Los Angeles, writing and searching for something intangible, she landed somewhat steadily in Brooklyn and has begun to find inspiration in her more immediate surroundings. 
Kate E. O’Hara is a New York based freelance writer and photographer who loves all things food—especially the people who make it and market it. Her writing aims to capture the essence of the food experience; the stories that go well beyond a plate of ingredients. In addition to her love of food, Kate is also known to have a hankering for red wine and craft beer. You can also find Kate on Instagram